All the symptons have cleared for Correll Buckhalter and the Broncos hope their veteran can return sometime this week.

Buckhalter left the Broncos’ first training camp practice Sunday morning after suffering an injury to lower neck/upper back. He was taken to a local hospital where he was checked over and released. The Broncos are being cautious with Buckhalter. He was held out of practice Monday and he get another day or two before returning.

When Buckhalter returns, he figures to become the Broncos’ No. 1 tailback until second-year player Knowshon Moreno returns from his hamstring injury. Moreno is expected to be sidelined three weeks.

With Buckhalter and Moreno sidelined, the Broncos’ tailback depth chart read, in order: Kolby Smith, Lance Ball, Toney Baker (an undrafted rookie from North Carolina State who moved up from No. 4) and Bruce Hall.

Update: Check that. In the team drills, especially the two-minute drill, Ball was the first-team back, Hall was the backup. Smith started off as the No. 1 tailback during the running-play session, but he didn’t get a rep during the 2-minute drill. Baker didn’t get any reps.

According to the FAN’s D-Mac, who was sitting in the crowd right in front of the most significant event of the Broncos’ first training camp session, running back Knowshon Moreno had caught a screen pass, cut, and without contact, went down in pain with an injured right leg.

According to Denver Post reporter Shemar Woods, Moreno was carted off the field. As he reached the doors leading into the Broncos’ locker room, Moreno had to be helped out of the cart, then assisted by two medical personnel as he limped into the locker room.

Broncos coach Josh McDaniels did not elaborate details on Moreno’s injury in his post-practice press gathering, in part because the team does not yet know the full extent of the injury.

A few minutes after Moreno’s injury, veteran backup Correll Buckhalter walked off the field with an apparent hamstring injury. All this less than two days after the Broncos traded away veteran running back J.J. Arrington to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for special teams standout Joe Mays.

The Broncos’ top running backs for the next week or so are Bruce Hall, who spent his first two seasons with Buffalo, where his coach, Eric Studesville, is now the Broncos’ running back; Lance Ball, who finished last season on the Broncos’ practice squad, and Kolby Smith, who was claimed off waivers from Kansas City in mid-June.

Former Eagles back Brian Westbrook can keep on running. The Broncos are out of his pursuit. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

The waiver claim of former Kansas City Chiefs running back Kolby Smith means the Broncos have pulled out of the Brian Westbrook derby.

Westbrook, who as recently as 2007 had 2,104 combined yards rushing (1,333) and receiving (771), visited the Broncos among other teams last month but left without a contract.

Although Westbrook is a far more accomplished back, Smith at 25 is five years younger. And while Smith has been injury plagued, Westbrook’s concussion history remains career-threatening.

Smith became a household name among fantasy players in game 12 of his rookie 2007 season when he rushed for 150 yards and two touchdowns against the Oakland Raiders. It was his first and only 100-yard game, as Smith rushed for just 133 yards combined the past two seasons.

At 5-11, 219 pounds, Smith could fill the power back role served last year by LaMont Jordan. Knowshon Moreno will get the bulk of the carries with Correll Buckhalter the second back in.

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.